As Raj bolted through the drizzly undergrowth, he nearly caught up with the scurrying rabbit before slipping into a greasy mud puddle causing him to fall hard, consequently rocking him from head to toe. After a minute of trying to regain his composure, Raj noticed a narrow cave not far away, branching out from all other major features of the jungle. Raj was instructed to stay away from this area by his parents, therefore he did not know what to anticipate. Out of curiosity, he walked closer to the narrow passage heading inside the opening of the camouflaged cave, then crawled inside. As he crawled around the cave’s floor, Raj saw lots of precious valuables scattered around it.

“Did you hear that?” Yelled a thundering voice. “Someone could be hiding in our cave.” These were the Dangals, the most feared gang of bandits in this area. For ages, the Dangals have plagued Raj’s village, Kosi. Fortunately for Raj’s good luck, all they did was look around, deposit their loot, and leave. Raj sighed a quick breath of relief and left to go back to his village. Just as he was leaving, Raj took a large gold coin from the pile.

The location of the Dangals' den has remained unknown since its inception. Raj was the first outside person to discover such information and was at a loss for what to do with it, so he hid the coin among several other crops, and wished to forget about it for the time being. Raj, a 16-year-old high schooler, lived in Kosi, a secluded Himalayan village. Kosi was detached from most modern amenities while most people relied upon the bounding river for water, and furthermore crops, to maintain their livelihoods. Raj’s family was no different. They maintained a scanty field and struggled daily to harvest crops they could sell. For the next two weeks, his parents went out to sell crops at a distant market so he would be unprotected and bear all of the consequences of that evening.

Meanwhile, in the Dangal’s lair, they discovered the largest coin within their pile was missing. It’s a colossal alarm for the gang as till now, no villager has ever attempted to unearth their hidden lair. Sunil, their leader, determined that they needed to uncover who might have been in their lair. He ordered his gang to question the village people. One by one, they came, investigated, and left. When they came to Raj’s home, he was overwhelmed with fear. The Dangal that came through the door was muscular and almost impossible to run from, additionally with another guard for help. The first question was simple, where were you that day? Immediately, Raj said, “I was washing dishes outside.” Moreover, detecting fear, the Dangals thought nothing of this since everyone was nervous in their presence. The second question was “did you see anyone outside?” Raj lingered on that question, but eventually said “No.” After a pause from Dangal, they finally said “let’s go” to the guard and shuffled out of the house.

Only two days after Raj’s revelation, the Dangals narrowed the search to about 20 people, including Raj. Following that, the Dangals revisited every suspect with a new set of questions and examined the houses for the coin. When Raj heard they barged in, he knew trouble was brewing. When the Dangal stared into his eyes, it was clear that Raj was shivering and, as a result, concealing something. Suddenly, one of the Dangals goes on a tour of the house, looking for signs of the hidden coin. His heartbeat accelerated as he felt sick to his stomach. Luckily, a Dangal entered the room and gave the all-clear to leave. Raj thought it would only be a matter of days before the Dangals caught on with his lies as the moon rose in the scorching night.

Raj woke up to the sound of the rooster crowing, still pondering about the Dangals. The brisk wind was complemented by the rising sun. All the light outdoors made him feel much more confident and assured of himself. He recognized that fleeing was not a possibility since it would authenticate that he was the person the Dangals were looking for and they wouldn’t spare his parents. He concluded that it’s best to get rid of the gold coin, hoping that his secrets will persist to be permanently hidden and his alibis would hold.

Raj unearthed the coin and headed for the river. Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t have picked a worse time. He discovered himself in front of the wrathful Sunil, who was not pleased with his gang members since they couldn’t discover the culprit. Sunil commanded Raj to present his pockets. At that moment, Raj was the embodiment of fear, with Sunil's gaze displaying no mercy. Raj hesitated and was doubtful of what to do. He was caught and feared death. With nowhere to go, Raj hastily took a breath, and in a desperate attempt, picked up a rock, and hurled it right at Sunil’s head. Raj heard the large body of the feared gangster fall to the ground with a thump. The brutal gang leader was no more.

Some passing villagers observed what happened and took the still, startled Raj to the village chief. After learning the story, the chief decided to commemorate this moment. He was no longer scared of Dangals and asked his people that they would need to fight to liberate themselves. The united villagers, led by Raj who was the only one who knew the directions, stormed towards Dangal’s lair. They held weapons and fire torches to destroy the famous abode. With no time left to prepare, the Dangals surrendered themselves to the villagers and left the area immediately, never to come back. Villagers celebrated all night, furthermore, Raj now was a hero. Late into the night, the village chief declared that they would erect an extensive school in the heart of Kosi with the money from the Dangal’s lair and call it “The Raj School.”